Sunday, July 25, 2010

Showtime!


It's that time of year again. We've made it a bit of a tradition to get along to the Mt Gravatt Show and this year Eli was particularly excited. I'd talked up the prospect of going to the show and riding the dodgem cars all week, so by the time the weekend rolled around Eli was almost bursting with excitement. We met Alora, Grandma and Grandad at the front gate and then Eli and Alora were off, with a real sense of purpose, making a b-line for the rides.




After some careful consideration, Eli decided that he and I should drive the blue dodgem car. Unfortunately, the guys running the dodgem cars told us that the really blue one was a bit slow, so we had to settle for a purple and blue number. Eli didn't seem too distressed with this change of plans, just as long as we 'crash into Alora and Grandad'...and I was only too happy to hold up that end of the bargain.




Next on the agenda was the clowns - I think Eli even broke his previous speed record for putting all of the balls in the clowns mouth as fast as he could. I'm not sure if he's speedy strategy always pays dividends, but since every player wins a prize it's not too bad...now I just have to keep those water bombs away from him until summertime...




After a short break away from the rides, Eli and Alora took us back into the thick of the action. They both wanted to have a go on the jumping castle and Eli showed us how good he is with ropes...just look at that concentration and determination as he scales the climbing wall!



One of the real hits, from Eli's perspective, of this year's show was the mouse circus...he was absolutely transfixed by it and took a fair bit of convincing when it was time for us to move on and let some other kids have a look...



Time for a break from all of the action and I finally, after several failed attempts at previous fetes and shows, convinced Eli to try some fairy floss...happy to report that he liked it, but not as much as I did. And yes, I know that it is strange that I want Eli to eat fairy floss...



After a short lunch break, Eli and Alora started playing with some of the toys from their showbags. Eli was quite taken by the blue racing car in his showbag and he raced around with it, with Grandad in tow.



Another fun day at the show...I wonder how big it will be next year...I'm already thinking that there will be more dodgem car requests and I expect that we won't be able to get away with skipping the fireworks either...

In the jungle


We recently celebrated Ashford's (Addie's little brother) 1st birthday. Jeff and Paige had arranged for a birthday bash up in the rainforest, so I primed Eli with the promise of a trip to the jungle...


Eli really enjoyed the drive up the range, pointing out all of the big trees and the fact that the road was very windy, but by the time we arrived he really just wanted to get outside and kick a ball around...



Once everyone had arrived we went for a bushwalk to the lookout over Purling Brook Falls. Jeff, Murray, Joe and I were joined by five little monkeys standing on the wall - Archie, Addie, Eli, Niamh and Liam...as always, Eli was in the thick of things...



The view down to the waterfall was spectacular and I managed to snap a few quick photos in between reminding Eli that he shouldn't climb on the fence...




Back at the party, Ashford enjoyed opening some presents before it was time for him to blow out his candles.



At the same time, Eli enjoyed blowing on his 'blowout' (that's apparently what these things are called)...



After more running around, kicking balls and playing with sticks that he'd retrieved from the rainforest, Eli eventually found a vine that was just perfect for swinging on. This little video shows Eli and Addie doing their best Tarzan and Jane impersonations...and before long we had a line up for Eli's vine swing...